Nassau County Legislator David Denenberg, right, of Merrick, participated in a recent Long Island Progressive Coalition protest, saying that County Executive Ed Mangano created an “appearance of impropriety” in accepting campaign contributions from contractors that did restoration work for the county after Hurricane Sandy. A Mangano spokesman later accused Denenberg of accepting illegal campaign contributions. Richard Landau of Merrick, whose home was severely damaged in Sandy, joined Denenberg at the protest.

Protesters from the Long Island Progressive Coalition, a nonprofit social and environmental advocacy group, claimed at a June 4 rally in Mineola that County Executive Ed Mangano received $144,000 in campaign contributions from private companies that did restoration work for the county after Hurricane Sandy.

The coalition based the allegation on an Associated Press report from mid-May that analyzed Mangano’s contributions from contractors that were “hired to cut trees, repair infrastructure and haul debris” for 11 weeks following the storm. According to the report, 23 Sandy contractors donated to Mangano’s campaign in the weeks after they were hired, and many of the companies received no-bid contracts because the county was in a state of emergency.

At noon on June 4, 18 protesters, most from the Progressive Coalition, gathered on the steps of the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building to decry what they described as Nassau’s “pay-to-play” political system and called for New York state to pass campaign finance reform that would prohibit contributions in exchange for contracts.

“Basically, this is legalized bribery,” said Lisa Tyson of North Bellmore, the Long Island Progressive Coalition’s director. “In a baseball game, if someone gave money to the umpire to call them safe, that would be illegal. We need to make these contributions illegal as well.”

County Legislator Dave Denenberg, a Democrat from Merrick, stood with the protesters, saying that Mangano created the “appearance of impropriety” when he accepted campaign donations from companies doing Sandy recovery work. Denenberg also led protesters in chants of, “What do we need? Fair elections! When do we need them? Now!”

County exec reacts

In an email, Brian Nevin, a Mangano spokesman, accused the Progressive Coalition of playing partisan politics. “It’s ironic that this group never protested Tom Suozzi over the eight-year period in which he accepted millions in campaign contributions,” Nevin wrote, referring to Mangano’s predecessor, a Democrat. “However, they randomly decide to attack these contributions, which are lawful and properly reported with the state.”

Comments

What this article fails to point out, typically, is that Looks Great Inc., was hired and retained by the former County Executive, Tom Suozzi. It also fails to mention that Looks Great is one of a few firms that is qualified to actually do this work. This so-called Progressive Coalition clearly needs to make more progress in reading the facts.

It's also disappointing to see a hard hit Merrick resident used as a pawn in cheap political theatrics.